Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Milan, Marco Bersanelli offered a valuable insight at the Youth Jubilee: science is an ally of faith, a marvellous tool for exploring creation

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An Astrophysics professor at the Jubilee of Youth.

A commendable initiative by the Italian Bishops’ Conference, which invited Marco Bersanelli, Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Milan, to speak at the Basilica of St Joseph at Trionfale in Rome.

The event, titled “12 Words for Hope”, took place on 31 July as part of the Jubilee of Youth 2025 celebrations.

 

Who is astrophysicist Marco Bersanelli?

The renowned Italian scientist specialises in observational cosmology and has spent decades studying the cosmic microwave background, the first light emitted by the primordial universe.

Bersanelli was also a key figure in the European Space Agency’s Planck mission, playing a pivotal role in measuring fundamental cosmological parameters with unprecedented precision, such as dark energy density, the Hubble constant, and the age of the universe.

Despite his impressive scientific credentials, he addressed the young audience in a way that was both simple and profound, explaining how opening one’s eyes to the beauty of the universe is a deeply spiritual act.

 

“Science is a way of questioning creation”

“All our knowledge of the world always begins with wonder,” said Bersanelli. “With awe at something that has been given to us, that we did not make, and that invites us to grasp its meaning.”

And science, “which is my field,” he continued, “is one of the ways in which humanity can question nature, creation, and become aware of the greatness of all that exists.”

In clear reference to the thought of Blaise Pascal, the eminent scientist also reflected on the disproportion between the vastness of the cosmos and the smallness of humankind. Yet, “though we are but specks of dust in the universe, we are the speck that can question the meaning of everything—and of our own lives.”

His invitation to the young participants was to cultivate an “attentiveness to created reality”, with awe and wonder, in order to discover that “our hearts are made for infinite joy, and in daily life we already experience the first fruits of a joy that we long to live in its fullness.”

 

Applause for the bishops’ initiative

Marco Bersanelli’s message is clear: science is not only not alien to faith, it can become a powerful voice for it—when it helps open our eyes to the beauty and the mysterious grandeur of creation.

A well-deserved applause to the Office for Vocational Pastoral Care, Leisure and Sport for including such a talk among the cultural events of the Jubilee.

A moment that truly embodied the Jubilee’s spirit: opening hearts and minds, including through science, to recognise the signs of a greater design that calls humanity and invites us to walk towards the fullness of life.

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The name Marco Bersanelli is included in our dossier on believing scientists and in the collection of their quotations on science and faith.